Before the crash, Kelsey Raffaele and Stacey Hough acted like most teenagers. The best friends helped each other pick out what to wear. They had heart-to-heart conversations.

And they were glued to their phones, even while driving.

“I’m not going to lie, me and Kelsey used our phones all the time behind wheel. We never thought anything would come of it,” said Hough, now 19. “Until it happened, you don’t think it could happen.”

What happened was Hough lost her best friend in a car crash more than two years ago. What happened changed the driving habits of Kelsey’s friends, family and many in the small Upper Peninsula town of Sault Ste. Marie.

And what happened could change the law for the thousands of Michigan teens learning to drive each year.

Kelsey Raffaele

Kelsey’s death and the resulting campaign of her mother, Bonnie Raffaele, has led to legislation in the state Senate to ban cellphones while driving for teenagers still on graduated licenses.

Sen. Howard Walker, a Traverse City Republican whose massive district extends to Sault Ste. Marie, introduced the bill in October. It is in the Energy and Technology Committee, where Walker and others are hoping for a hearing this year.

Young drivers on cellphones are far more likely to be involved in crashes than older drivers, according to an analysis by MLive Media Group. One in five drivers using cellphones during crashes since 2002 were teens. Drivers 16 or 17 years old crashed 841 times.

“What we are trying to do is make sure beginning drivers are concentrating on learning how to drive and not worrying about talking on cellphones,” Walker said. “They need the experience to learn to drive without being distracted.”

The crash

Courtesy photoKelsey's last words talking to a friend on her cellphone were, "Oh, sh--, I'm going to crash." She said it twice.

Kelsey Raffaele died on Jan. 24, 2010. The 17-year-old high school senior tried to pass a car on a two-lane road. Hough was driving behind her. She saw Kelsey drive across the centerline and in front of the slower car. An SUV appeared in the oncoming lane.

Hough thought Kelsey made it. She saw her friend’s car slip past the slower car. Then, Kelsey’s car shot back across the centerline. She had hit a snowbank.

The silver Dodge Durango, weighing more than two tons, smashed into the passenger side of Kelsey’s car, right between the wheels. Hough ran through sleet and slush to the crash.

“It was just like a blink of an eye,” she said. “When I got to her, she was unconscious and I knew it was bad, but I really thought she would pull through.”

A few hours later, Hough’s stepdad, a paramedic, told her to prepare herself for the worst. The crash happened at 3:38 p.m. Doctors at War Memorial Hospital pronounced Kelsey dead at 7:19 p.m. She never regained consciousness.

More than 1,000 people attended Kelsey’s wake and funeral. It was standing-room only.

Pretty and popular, Kelsey had a huge heart and friends from many different groups at Sault High School, Hough said. She had been on the pom pom squad, and was part of the Business Professionals of America.

“This community was in complete shock,” Bonnie Raffaele said, “and they still are.”

Mother on a mission

Bonnie Raffaele, who had rushed to the crash scene, spent the next weeks learning as much as she could about the accident. Kelsey was a new driver; she got her license only four months before the crash.

“There had to be something more than her just taking a chance to pass,” Raffaele said. “She was more responsible that.”

The police report did not state Kelsey had been on her phone. It came out later, after the boy Kelsey had been talking to approached police. Raffaele eventually spoke to the boy. The crash still pains him; he feels responsible to some degree. He does not like to talk about it.

Sault Ste. Marie Evening NewsStudents take the KDR Challenge - pledging not to use cellphones while driving - a movement started by Bonnie Raffaele, right. KDR stands for Kelsey Dawn Raffaele, as well as Kids Driving Responsibly.

The crash launched Bonnie on a mission. She had forbid Kelsey and her twin sister, Courtney, from texting while driving, but thought talking on a cellphone was OK. She did it herself.

Now Raffaele travels to high schools across the state, asking students to take the KDR Challenge, a program she started. First she took the challenge, foregoing her cellphone while driving. Hough took the challenge, as have many of Kelsey’s friends.

KDR stands for “kids driving responsibly,” and for Kelsey Dawn Raffaele. On her trips, Bonnie Raffaele asks students to pledge not to use their phones while driving. She tells them about her daughter, about the crash, showing pictures of Kelsey and her mangled car.

More than 2,000 have signed the pledge. Raffaele has five 2-feet-by-8-feet banners full of their signatures.

It is not easy. In a video of one speech, her voice breaks as she describes the accident and recites her daughter’s last words. Tears flow.

“A lot of people think that texting is the only issue,” Raffaele said, noting studies showing talking can be as dangerous as driving drunk. “It has very little to do with having hands on the wheel. Your brain can only do one cognitive task at a time.